The issue is expenditure of public money

[TexasTowelie]

Here is an article from the Bryan Eagle regarding Governor Perry's former Deputy Chief of Staff Kimbrough who was deputy chancellor for the A&M system. Kimbrough was hired in early January as assistant director for homeland security for the Texas Department of Public Safety, oddly enough a position not created by the Public Safety Commission until weeks later on Jan. 26. After the position was posted, as required by state law, 28 other people applied for the job -- a job they apparently had no chance of getting.

Some readers believe The Eagle has it in for some people recently hired by government agencies, but we don't. Rather, we are concerned with how state and local money is spent, particularly in these days of belt-tightening by virtually every government agency.

Take, for instance, Texas A&M University, which has laid off staff and faculty because of the sour economy. Very few administrators were dismissed, however, certainly almost none in the upper tier of campus authority. One who was is Jay Kimbrough, who as deputy chancellor was the No. 2 in command of the A&M System. One of the first things the system's new chancellor did when he took over in September was to eliminate Kimbrough's $300,000-a-year position, saying it was unnecessary.

For most folks, that would be the end of it. But, you see, Kimbrough is a good buddy of Gov. Rick Perry who, in his more than a decade in office, has filled every appointed position in the state.

So, while Kimbrough was gone, he certainly wasn't forgotten. In fact, the public has learned, Kimbrough continued to draw his full salary until Jan. 18. Nice non-work if you can get it. The explanation given was that Chancellor Sharp wanted to keep the 64-year-old Kimbrough's eligibility for state retirement benefits current.

http://www.theeagle.com/editorial/The-issue-is-expenditure-of-public-money--6948048


Back in September 2011, Kimbrough was upset over his abrupt firing and admitted he told staff he would surrender his office keys only if "anyone is man enough to take them" – all while brandishing a pocketknife in what police called a "nonthreatening" way.
http://upload.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1990140

In 2007, Perry named his former Deputy Chief of Staff Jay Kimbrough, who has had his own controversial past, as the special master to head an investigation into whether Texas Youth Commission administrators covered up allegations that staff members had sexually abused youthful offenders incarcerated in agency facilities.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x3192151

Another interesting thread on DU is about the "TYC Scandal: Kimbrough 'A Less Than Honorable Political Hack'” which mentions his involvement in searching for Democratic House members who broke a quorum in 2003 by fleeing to Oklahoma to stall a congressional redistricting bill.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php/www/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=224x1852

Do you feel that the homeland is more secure now that we have one of Gov. Perry's cronies at DPS? How could this person who is a security threat receive such a job?

[Ilsa]

1. The dude is about to be put out to pasture,

but he gets hired to run something he's never been trained to do before? This stinks to high heaven. What a waste of public money.

Perry is a hypocrite when it comes to abusing power and the public purse.

[white cloud]

2. Working People are getting tired

of all this crap and hard times the Perry Crony's are causing....

[TexasTowelie]

3. Meanwhile, in the newspaper today

we get a shining example of what happens to a person in a similar situation that isn't connected to TPTB:

Freshman reports knife threat
http://www.theeagle.com/local/Freshman-reports-knife-threat--6962931

One of the comments said, "Since administrators set the tone and set examples at a school, the young man only seems to have been doing what appears to be completely acceptable behavior at A&M."